Louis, a 38-year-old native of Hungary, showed up with his wife Martha in Baltimore in the 1900 Census where Louis was working as the Supervisor of the Insane at Bayview Asylum.
Then, a search in Baltimore newspapers turned up the strange story of Louis's disappearance. On January 14, 1903, Louis apparently walked out of the house and did not return. "He kissed his wife and two-year-old child good-bye, saying that he would be back about five o-clock, if not earlier and spoke in his accustomed endearing way to his wife. He left about 10 o'clock in the morning and since that time has not been seen or heard from."
His father-in-law called for the police to find Winkler, speculating that either he had met with foul play or he had sailed back to Hungary. Meanwhile, his pregnant wife gave birth to a son, Edwin Weems Winkler, on January 29.
I was never able to find a follow-up story, so I was forced leave this mystery unsolved.
Some years later, I came across a Find-A-Grave entry for Martha Weems Winkler who was buried in, of all places, Bozeman MT. Her memorial was also linked to that of her son Edwin Weems where little more of the story was filled in. His memorial said that his father had died when he was three years old and that the family had moved to Bozeman in 1910.
With that information, I went back to look for a death certificate for Louis Winkler and I did find one in 1906 in Baltimore, so that fit the information in Find-A-Grave. I made a note to go get a copy of the death certificate from the Maryland Archives.
Then I also went back to Ancestry and searched again for Louis Winkler. This time, a passport application from 1921 turned up.
Update: 7 April 2017
Yes, it turns out there were two Louis Winklers and the one that died in Baltimore in 1906 was not Martha Weems' husband.
I found the death certificate for Louis Winkler who died in Baltimore in 1906 and he was from Germany, not Hungary and was a laborer, not working in a hospital.
The Death Certificate of Louis Winkler in Cleveland showed that he was from Hungary.
Further, his occupation was hospital orderly. A story from a Cleveland newspaper indicates that in 1906, Louis Winkler was a hero who rescued hospital patients from a damaging fire.
I got another piece of the puzzle when someone saw the picture of Louis I had posted in Find-A-Grave. Louis and Martha's son, Edwin Weems Winkler, published notes about his mother and father, which were kindly shared with me.
Martha, or "Dolly" as she was known, was apparently a lively, vivacious girl who badly wanted to get away from her strict parents. She married and quickly divorced a drinking, gambling man named Cole. The family considered this disgraceful and sent her out West to Montana to stay with her mother's sister and returned to Maryland about 1894, but still was not getting along well with her family. She went to live with a cousin in Baltimore and ended up with a job in a hospital, which is probably where she met Louis Winkler. They were married in Washington DC in 1899. According to the notes, Louis was well-educated and spoke seven languages, though his English had a pronounced accent. He was trained as a male nurse, which was uncommon in Maryland and he had difficulty finding work in this field. He tried his hand at selling insurance, but this was not successful. The couple had a daughter about 1900 and a son in 1903, but faced many financial difficulties and quarreled quite a bit. This resulted in the "disappearance" article where I first noticed Louis. Martha took her two young children back to her aunt in Montana since she did not feel welcome at the family home in Maryland and divorced Louis when she got there. She apparently had nothing more to do with Louis and his son did not know what happened to his father.
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